The increasing capabilities of personal/mobile electronic devices have provided consumers with the ability to enjoy multimedia content received via the Internet. For example, live (e.g., sports events) and video on demand (VOD) content (e.g., television shows and movies) can be streamed via the Internet to personal electronic devices (e.g., computers, mobile phones, and Internet-enabled televisions).
A source device (e.g., a server) has multimedia content available for streaming or downloading to each destination device that requests the multimedia content. The multimedia content that is available via the source device may also be available for streaming or downloading via one or more additional content sources. Thus, the same multimedia content may be available via numerous content sources for streaming or downloading to a destination device.
One or more content sources other than the server may be a more suitable source at a particular time for providing the multimedia content to the destination device. For example, the server has a lower available bandwidth, a higher network load, or both, at a particular time than another content source. In this example, receiving the multimedia content from the server as compared to the other content source increases delays, packet loss, or both, at the destination device. Higher delays or increased packet loss can result in jittery playback or delayed playback, adversely impacting user experience.